Louis J. Montanti

U.S. Army
1966 - 1968
Vietnam

Louis J. Montanti was born on December 18, 1946 on Richmond Street,
now a non-existent street torn down for the West Brighton Projects. His
family then relocated to another part of West Brighton. He attended Sacred
Heart School and McKee High School where he learned plumbing. After graduation in 1964, he enrolled in the Plumbers Apprentice Program, but in 1966 before completion, he received his draft notice.
Instead of a deferment, he answered the call for service.

Sent to Vietnam in March 1967, he was assigned to Company B 426 Signal Battalion in Ben Hoa. A few months later, he was bitten by a rabid monkey, a “gift” given to his tent mate from a villager. A month was spent in the General Dispensary for a series of daily rabies shots, barely tolerated. During the Tet Offensive in January 1968, his company was sent to Saigon to get damaged communications back up and running for which they were awarded a Presidential Citation. During his service, he was awarded Sharpshooter and Vietnam Combat medals.

After discharge, he completed his Plumbers Apprenticeship. Louis worked for private contractors until 1972. He then worked for NYC DEP Dept. of Water Resources as a Pipe Caulker, a title officially retired when he did so in 2000.

Married in 1972 to Sheila Sienicki, he bought and restored a ‘handyman’s special” in Port Richmond where they raised their two sons, Luis and Gabriel. Fifty years later, they choose to remain in their original home in their first, beloved neighborhood.

They dote on four grandchildren who get treated to special breakfasts by Papa Lou after sleepovers.

Louis’ hobbies include maintaining his 1938 Dodge which he restored, fixing any mechanical or wooden object that needs mending, bottling tomatoes, and cooking wonderful meals. As snowbirds, Lou and Sheila have a lakefront cottage in Lake

Wales, Florida. Louis is currently an active member of Vietnam Veterans Chapter 421.

Sponsored by The Montanti Family